Are States Ready to Reopen Post-COVID-19 Quarantine? Only 41% of US Physicians Believe So, According to InCrowd Data

22 May 2020 - - With all 50 states easing COVID-19 restrictions, US physicians are not confident that they are ready to handle future outbreaks in their state shall they occur, according to new research from InCrowd.

Findings represent the fifth COVID-19 tracking report in a series focused on reaching the voice of US frontline treating physicians, conducted and sourced last week by InCrowd, a provider of real-time primary market intelligence for the life science industry.

InCrowd's new research examined the perspectives of frontline-treating physicians in 25 newly reopened states, including their thoughts on their treating facilities' preparedness for an influx of patients that could result from reopening the state.

The study also asked their thoughts on scaling back social distancing, opening-up businesses, and managing future outbreaks.

Physicians are split on state readiness to reopen, with 41% believing yes, their state is ready to reopen, and 59% saying no, their state is not.

The majority of physicians with limited numbers of COVID-19 patients (fewer than 20), were in favor of reopening --compared to just 25% reported among physicians with 20 or more COVID-19 patients.

And when asked if they were in favor of beginning the process to open-up businesses and the economy, only 24% strongly agreed and 37% agreed overall.

InCrowd's data also show that masks and social distancing are important. Among physicians who believe their states are ready to reopen, nearly half wanted restrictions that coincide with opening, including required masking, 6-foot social distancing, and gathering/crowd limits.

For those physicians who do not believe their state is ready, one-third wanted a further downtrend in positive cases, and 23% wanted enforced mask-wearing, social distancing and gathering-size limits.

Testing remains an issue, particularly among US physicians who do not believe their state is ready to reopen.

Forty seven percent in this group wanted more widespread access and reliable testing before their state could safely reopen.

Among all respondents, about half report they are able to test all suspected COVID-19 cases, and just a third believe they have sufficient testing, staffing, and personal protective equipment to deal with potential outbreaks if occurred as a result of states re-openings.

Physician have personal concerns. Job security during the COVID-19 pandemic remains an issue for 40% respondents, down slightly from 45% noted in a national study of frontline-treating physicians fielded in April.

One-in-ten reported living separately from his or her family to ensure at-risk loved ones are protected from exposure to COVID-19.

A fraction reports an increasing volume of COVID-19 cases. When the survey fielded a week ago to physicians in states open or in the process of opening-up, only 22% of respondents reported that their facilities were experiencing increasing numbers of COVID-19.

InCrowd's COVID-19 reopening physicians' report included the perceptions of n=250 US physicians including emergency medicine and critical care specialists (n=180), hospitalists, and pulmonologists, each of whom is treating 10 or more unique patients for flu-like symptoms in any of the 25 states that had begun opening COVID-19-restricted services as of early May 2020.